Date:         Mon, 11 Dec 1995 20:10:10 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@mtest.teradyne.com (William Abbott)
Subject:      cold solder and other maladies

	My neighbor bought a poorly-running MR2 for his wife, confident
he could cure it's ills. He resoldered the entire engine management system
printed circuit board and the car runs like a dream, 3 years later.

	Besides disconnecting the battery before removing the brain box,
etc, I'd STRONGLY recomend getting a ground strap and conductive, grounded
workplace for this kind of thing. VWs are obviously more stoutly built,
but more than 10 Watts of radio (like Ham radio) from a vehicle mounted
antenna blows up Toyota engine management systems. A Ham friend of my
brother's blew-up his Camry wagon's control box and was denied
warranty coverage. A killer dose of static is easier to couple into
a brain box when its open than RF...

	I have a little grounded sheet of conductive plastic and wrist
strap and a cord with just the ground plug for the wall socket if anyone
in the Bay area wants to do VW brain surgery.

	Cheers!
	Bill